RWBY - The Storms of War
by Great-C
Summary: Evil is coming, though our heros do not know it. It seeps through the walls, it poisons the water and air, and when reveals itself, nothing will be able to stop it. Will Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang be able to fight it, or will it devour them whole? Whatever happens, the storms of war are about to clash.
1. Chapter 1 - Slaves of the machine

The rain thrashed and the lightning crashed all around them, but it failed to compare to the whips that lashed upon their backs.

For those who still had sanity and strength left, they kept their heads down and marched onwards, slipping and sliding on what used to be a hill, but had now melted into a torrent of mud. They've been pulling the cart for two hours now, just like the seven other carts they've pulled today, but now it had become impossible.

Still, it was better than the alternative. Those who tired to catch a break, caught the back the whip instead, and those who were caught by the ground, were not heard from again.

Sooner rather then later though, one of them had to break. Whether it was the blistering heat, the crushing rain, or the venomous bites of the mosquitoes, the jungle would eventually kill them. The Guards would always laugh if they ever they asked for anything more than a blanket.

"You're Faunus" they consisted reminded. "You fought in this jungle, now you work in it!"

It was a common joke that they could slam their pickaxes into the Guards' foots, they'll still be saying that same line. A small comfort, in what was suppose to be a well paying job.

Surprisingly, for the guards at least, all twenty of the workers reached the top, and pulled the cart through the gates. A chorus of disappointed grumbles soon followed. It had become a regular sport as to bet who would fall first. Nevertheless, they hurried the Faunus inside and locked the gates quickly. Though Grimm attacks were rare in this area, it was unwise to leave the front door wide open.

With one last push, the workers slammed the cart into the loading bay, and silent sigh of relief flowed from everyone's breath. No matter how hard they were beaten, even the guards had to sleep, and sure enough, they were soon hustled to their dorms by men who were more asleep then they were.

For the Faunus, their small victory was at hand, until Freddie collapsed right in front of them.

A chorus of cheers echoed through the camp. Although Freddie's feature resembled the bull, his weak physic made him an easy target for the guards. His friends had tried to give stimulants to help him cope, but now the exhaustion had devoured what strength he had. The others could only watch, held to their own imaginary chains of fatigue, as one of the guards approached the lifeless body.

He nudged the Faunus with his boot, a much easier practice than checking for a pulse. Freddie didn't respond, let alone cry out in pain, but even in this darkness, he could still see the faint breath of life that was seeping from his mouth. The guard grinned, and turned to his follow officers.

"Yo, Davis. You still owe me twenty."

"Up yours" replied the skinner of the lot, "he can't be alive."

"Oh, you want to come out and check? Or you still worried about getting your face cream wet?"

A roar of laughter soon followed, as a disgruntled Davis crossed his arm and tried to ignore the situation as best he could. Out the in the rain, his tormentor grinned some more. He turned back to his duty on the floor, where he found another Faunus was trying to inject more stimulants into Freddie.

The Faunus, Dan, looked back at the guard, and frozen in fear. He always thought that the stories were exaggerations; lies to make them work harder, but those thoughts had little comfort to him now. The guard meanwhile, gave an irritated sigh. It was one more piece of paperwork he would have to write up, but he did not like to write the same thing twice.

"You shouldn't have done that," said the guard.

"Please…" started Dan, "he can still make it. He'll be alright."

"You know, I was having a really good night until now, even if I was getting pissed on. I felt that we made some progress today."

"Sir please, he has family back home."

"So do I" countered the guard. "I mean, I was actually going home tomorrow. See the wife, the kid, and have a massive frickin steak at the end of it, but now I have to write two reports, two MASSIVE reports on this, and I can't leave this dump until I finish them. Can you see my problem here?"

From the guards' perspective, his heart felt speech was quite a good one. He had been thinking on it for about a week, and had somewhat hoped that one of workers would cross the line. Unfortunately for him, the guard had failed to realise that Dan had stopped listening to him from the start.

Though his dog-ears could hear for miles (when it wasn't raining for Noah at least) all sound had been rendered silent, by the complete and utter stupidity that Dan was hearing.

"YOU CAN'T TREAT US LIKE THIS, DAMN IT!"

What little mercy the guard had was shot dead at that moment. The Guard didn't explode into rage as previous ones had, but instead, looked down at the Faunus with annoyance, as if a pet cat had laid excrement on his favourite his jumper. He didn't like cats.

The whip was fast and brutal, having wrapped itself around the Dans' neck in an instant. He had been in situations like this before, but the whip still chocked what little air was inside him. His hands tried to loosen its hold, though it was ultimately futile.

All the while, the guard looked down at Dan with the same annoyed expression as before, though as Dan glimpsed back, he saw it was more than that. There was fire in his eyes, a fire that burned with full on hate; a fire that burned with undeniable contempt for Dans' very existence.

"You people really are stupid, aren't you?" he spoke, and with that, he threw the whip, catapulting Dan to the other side of the compound. The Faunus collided with several empty barrels, before finally crashing into an empty shed. A pillar of smoke rose from it remains, ending what little resistance that was left.

"Pathetic" the guard snorted. Though it was an impressive show of strength, the fire still burned within. It was then that he heard a faint cough, and after looking before, spotted Freddie still struggling to breath.

"Oh? Still alive are we?" the Guard asked. Although riving in pain, Freddie looked up at the guard. He was pale as snow, and might as well be dead, but still he managed to bring his head up to face his oppressor. The guard sniggered in retort.

"You got something to say?"

Truth be told, Freddie didn't have anything to say. He wasn't even looking at the guard now. Instead, he was looking at the watchtower behind him, where a figure in black stood on top.

Freddie could barely make it shape, let alone its face, but he could tell it was looking at him. Its blood red eyes made sure of that.

Slowly, the figure raised its arm into the sky, but paused, as if it was waiting for something. Maybe it was judging Freddie, maybe it was plotting something, or maybe it was planning to rescue him. In his heart though, the Faunus laughed at that thought. He was never going to be that lucky, and sure enough, the figure clicked its fingers, and a bolt of Lightening blasted the gate.

Freddie didn't know lightning could do that, but he didn't question its wrath. In a flash, the main gate had been ripped apart, its chains and locks scattered everywhere, its right side sent flying to the main dormitories. Only the left was still on hinges, creaking in the rain as everyone watch its scared remains.

Horrified was a word rarely used when describing the guards, but it didn't bring the Workers any joy. Humans, Faunus, all stood like rocks, half buried in the dirt, without a sense of conciseness.

And then, they ran.

Both the Guards and the Workers, anyone who had legs ran for what safety they could find, leaving Freddie to watch what was coming for them. He couldn't see anything of course but he could hear them. Their footsteps, their fur, their snarling teeth.

Freddie didn't have to guess what would happen, when the first one towered above him. All he could was scream, as the Beowolf dived straight into his neck.


	2. Chapter 2 - The Sky on Fire

To imply that one can actually get tired of fireworks, one had clearly never met Ruby Rose before. The girl had been camping at the top of the balcony since the early morning, and had done everything she can to claim it, from bolting chairs to the floor, to bringing up an ice cream parlour by crane.

When anyone tried to object, they were meet by a tremendous smile, followed by a 20ft drop into a safety net.

Still, the effort was well worth it. Ruby had always heard how the Beacon fireworks show were legendary, but seeing it was another thing entirely. There were over a hundred of them, all of them different shapes, different styles and more extravagant than the last. Some sparked, some flash, while others danced for eternity.

It all ended in final big bang that lit up the sky from North to South, East to West, where not an inch was spared. Above them all, it glazed like the sun, and in a bang, it was gone. So even after the display ended and the crowd broke into deafening applause, the light from the firework still beamed from Ruby's star struck eyes.

"Oh my GOSH! That was the best show ever!" she squealed with absolute delight. "Did you see that last one? It completely beat the show at Vale central. I mean, the red and blue fireworks clashed a bit, but eeeeeeeeee, I can't for how they top this next year!"

Blake meanwhile was more or less happy to take the ear plugs out of her ears, while Weiss smiled politely, while hiding a piece of paper behind her back. Yang however had now fully geared herself up for the dance floor, though she suspected it would be easier said than done.

"Ok…" she started "so we heading to the-"

"WAIT!" halted an insistent Ruby, "there's still one more left to come!"

The elder sibling sank her head and groaned, all too familiar to her sister's obsession.

"Ruby" Blake intervened, "that last one just blinded the entire school. I doubt they're going to try and beat that."

"That's what they want you to think!" Ruby deduced. "That's how they do it, you see. Luring the audience into a false sense of security, and then when of them have left, they let it off, hogging all the lights for themselves, while cackling with laughter, while depriving children of what little joy they hand!"

"You're still mad about that missing that last firework when you were seven, aren't you?"

"It was so unfair!"

Ruby's childhood grief was quickly interrupted however, by what less experienced viewers would call a blazing Supernova in sky. Nevertheless, the sight was as spectacular, and the entire applauded once again.

"Wow…" Ruby gleamed. "Ok, lets wait for the second one that always comes after that!"

"Come along little sis" Yang said, as she grabbed her little sister by the hood, and though she tried several times to grab the railing, Ruby was dragged away crying and sobbing.

Fortunately for Ruby, the Beacon fairground was proving to be just as fun. Though the rollercoaster had a 35 main wait, the twister, the duck shot, the bumper cars, even the high striker all became very addictive. A testimony to that was Nora Valkyrie, who was now attempting her 89th try. It didn't go so well.

"THIS IS CHEATING" Nora declared, as she glared straight into the eyes of the attendant. "I hit harder than this thing. Hell, I've shot 10 tons weights into the sky this morning. YOU FRICKEN RIGGED THIS!"

"Sorry little lade" said the bald headed, middle aged, pompous man that ran the attraction, "several fine men came before, and they all achieved what you did not."

"HORSE ASS!" she raged, along with several other words that were not entire appropriate. Her teammates meanwhile stood solidly, yet cautiously behind her.

"Maybe we should calm her down" suggest Jaune, though as suggestions went, this wasn't his best.

"I wouldn't advise it," said the more experienced Ren. "Nora has habit of… sorting these things out."

"I know…" Jaune agreed, "but still, as leader of the team, I should led the best example possible!"

"Jaune, it's sweet," said the ever caring Pyrrha, "but I think this might be a little out of your league."

"Oh come on guys, it'll be fine," the blond retorted, as he dodged a flying basket that came from Nora's direction. Jaune stood himself up again, though his confidence was lee than intact.

"Well…" Ren thought out loud, "I still wish you the best of luck."

"Err, thanks…" replied the leader, and with particularly small steps, he edged towards what had now become a battlefield.

The previously confident attendant was now hiding behind a crate of rock candy, but it wasn't proving helpful in the least. Every chance he took to look over, several confectionary items came flying over his head, not to even let him speak a verb, let alone an apology.

Eventually, frustration overcame his judgement and he stood up high, ready to give out the yelling of a lifetime, only for Nora to hit him right between the eyes with a candy cane.

As the unfortunate attendant fell backwards into the dirt, Jaune moved closer and closer to his devilishly grinning compatriot. It seemed like an eternity when he start moving towards her, and yet he still couldn't think of anything to say. In the end, he decided to go with his gut, and ask as honestly as he can.

"Err," he murmured behind his teammate, "hey Nora…"

Immediately, the wide-eyed, and somewhat frightening ginger girl turned towards him.

"Oh hey Jaune!" Nora said reasonably enough, "want to help me hang him up by his shoe laces over there?"

"Well, about that…" Jaune started, carefully aware of the growing sense of impending dooming that stared right back at him. "I mean, we all know you're right, and he was in the wrong, and you could… break his legs several times over."

"Yeahuh" Nora nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, and that's great and all, but, is there, you know, another way you could win?"

A long and particularly tense silence soon followed. Not a word was spoken, not a gasp inhaled, but to the trained eye, Nora was definitely thinking about it. Her eyes went above, left, right, and back again, before looking straight back at Jaune.

"One second" she spoke, and in flash, she raced off to the droms.

Jaune gave an instant sigh of relief, but even to him, something about that escape didn't sit right.

The attendant meanwhile had gotten back on his feat, and despite the pounding bulge in the middle of his forehead, decided to pretend like nothing happened.

"Err, right!" he said, as he pulled on a top hat to hide his embarrassing wound, "Anyone else like to take a shot? How about you fine sir?"

"Well," grinned Cardin as he emerged from the background, "if anyone else can't do it, guess I'll have to."

"Err, Cardin," Jaune interrupted, "I don't think you should do that."

"Oh why?" he asked, as he walked towards the high striker, "You want to try and fail first?"

"No, I really think you should move away."

"How about you shut the hell up and- why are you lot looking up at the sky?"

Cardin finally got round to looking at his accusers, and in the process noticed the distinct lack of one of their teammates. Realising what was about to occur, he too looked upwards to the sky, and confronted by a flash of ginger, which was followed by a very large explosion.

Splitters and metal flew in all directions, while the bell itself was shot straight up into the stratosphere. From the dust cloud emerged a dark eyed and deadly Nora, Magnhild in one hand, and a threatening gesture in the other. The attendant final saw sense, and handover the largest stuffed bear he had.

As Nora skipped happily back to her teammates, Cardin emerged from the rubble. He tried to object but not before the bell crashed on his head, and knocked him back into unconsciousness yet again.

"I GOT A GIANT BEAR!" Nora sang as she jumped around Team JNPR. "I GOT A GIANT BEAR! I GOT A GIANT BEAR! I GOT A GIANT BEAR…"

It went on for quite awhile, in which that time, Jaune got a not so subtle nudge for the red head standing by him.

"So… You try to try the dance floor?" said smiled.

"Err, sure Ok." Jaune stuttered in return. "Hey Ren, are you and Nora…?"

"Oh yeah. Nora's going to be like this for an hour or so. You love birds have fun."

"Well, we're not technically…"

"Oh shut up and come dance with me," and with that, Jaune was whisked away by an always caring but also determined Pyrrha.

Team RWBY meanwhile was still crawling through a maze of stores and rides, much to Yangs' frustration, but nevertheless, the gang still enjoyed the fun, all except for Weiss. She had been trailing behind her friends for some time now, hoping not to be noticed as she contemplated the letter that was scrunched up in her hand.

_"__What I am going do?"_ she panicked inside her head. _"I can't not respond. Could I say I have a test? No, he wouldn't care. I could say that I'm sick, but how long will that last? Will he even believe it? I can't just go, I-"_ WEISS!

The white haired girl was shot back into reality, with all three of her teammates starring right back at her.

"Weiss, you ok? You kind of spaced out there, like lost in space kind of way, like forbidden planet kind of way, like you were being attacked by horrible space pirate-"

"Ruby, I'm fine!" she declared, and at the snap of her fingers, transformed herself into the ice-queen.

"It's quite simple, if you lot ever bother to read the map. Where we should have gone left, we took a right by the banana stand, which sent us to the stores maze instead. To get to the dance floor, we need to head to the whack-a-mole, past the slide, under the que for the dodgems, which we will proceed to…"

It was at this point that she realised that none of them had heard a word she said.

"It's that way," she sighed and pointed, and a blur of red, black and yellow flashed past her. With that, she turned her attention back to the letter, which had suddenly disappeared into thin air.

Panicking, Weiss looked high and low, even crawling on her hands and knees in the vein hope that she simply dropped it, but to no avail. When she looked back up however, she saw the letter in front of her, clutched in the hands of Blake Belladonna.

"Looking for this?" she asked.

Weiss snatched it back immediately, with a snarl and a glare.

"Did you read this?!"

"No" Blake shrugged, "I just thought it was a bit silly to carry what's making you miserable right behind your back."

Admitting defeat, Weiss sank back into her depression, preferring to hide from reality.

"Please don't tell Ruby" she asked, "I don't want her to worry."

"Oh I won't, but you can't hide this forever."

"I can try. I'll lock it into safe and throw it into the ocean if I have to!"

"Maybe, or maybe you can let your friends help you out, like when you helped me to track down Cinder."

"Don't you trick me with your logic, and your facts!"

Blake chuckled in response, but gave her comrade on pat on the back anyway.

"Just don't keep it too long, ok? Ruby will notice eventually."

"Notice what?" asked a suspicious Red Riding Hood from behind. Weiss and Blake twisted to their leader in instant, completely failing to wear any convincing faces whatsoever.

"Oh, err… We were talking the lack of…" Weiss tried explain, only now realising that quick thinking wasn't one of her strong suits.

"FIREWORKS!" Blake shouted, "Yeah, we were wondering why there were only just a hundred and fifty of them, not a hundred and fifty six like they promised. Did you notice at all?"

"Don't remind me" Ruby immediately sulked, a great big cloud hovering over her head.

"No wait NO!" Weiss tried to save. "It was the lack of rides. That's what we meant" but it was too late. Ruby was now firmly stuck in the foetal position, recounting the names of all hundred and fifty six fireworks were at the last festival.

Yang finally walked into frame, giving a very unimpressed look at Blake and Weiss. She then crouched down to Ruby, and realising she had no choice; she had to use her triumph card.

"Okay then Ruby, if you want to stay on the floor then, I guess you won't be interested in our new international sanctioned mission then…"

Though past experiences had taught Ruby about being weary of Yang's persuasions, she nevertheless looked up anyway, and though behold, the magic white envelope lay straight in front her.

"The mission!" she squealed with glee as she snatched from Yang's hand. "Oh my gosh, our first international national mission! We aren't suppose to get this tomorrow!"

"Yeah…" wondered Blake, "how did you get a hold of it?"

"Oh," replied the grinning blond, "a women has her ways."

"OH MY GOD!" someone yelled from afar, "SOMEONE BROKE INTO THE ENVELOPE VAULT!"

"But that's the past. I say bring on the mission!"

Ruby had already beaten Yang to punch however, having ripped the envelope to shreds and was now reading its contents.

"Team RWBY, it is my honour to inform you and comrades have been approved for Beacon sponsored Grimm hunts in the four other Kingdoms. Your first mission, with the assistance of Team JNPR, will be to investigate Grimm attacks at the Dust mining plants in the Everden forest, AND hunt down any Grimm monsters you may find! AH, THIS IS AMAZING!"

"Yeah, Everden's all the way in Atlas too. I'm surprised that they'd send us that far."

"Wait, isn't the mine there owned by the Schnee…" Blake started to say, but as she turned to her right, she found Weiss completely and utterly petrified. Her hands were shaking, her forehead covered in sweat, and her eyes stared into nothing, with absolute fear.

"_No…" _she whispered. "_No…"_


End file.
